These photos were taken last year at Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico. I was overwhelmed by the sheer brilliance of the people who live here hundreds of years ago.

The people of this area of New Mexico really lived and used the land which they lived. Pictured above are actual footholds used on a mesa of generations of families walking through their daily lives.

They lived simply using the natural resources available. Pictured above is a doorway of a cave-like structure carved into the soft volcanic rock walls of the mesa. Amazing! To make walking easier, cobblestone paths were laid. Not much different than we do today.

What can we learn from people who lived before technology, global markets, wall street and mortgages?

September 20, 2008

Saw a great show by Neko Case last night. She was headlining the Forward Music Festival. The flavor of the fest is indie with over 50 bands having roots in the midwest. Great concept! Before Neko's show at the Opheum, we saw Bob Mould (of Husker Du) at the Majestic.

September 19, 2008

The warm days of mid September and the cool nights have caused one last hurrah of the blooming season in the backyard. The roses are offering up a third round of blooms this summer. The photo above shows the early morning sun casting shadows across the bloom while the morning due glimmers.

In the photo above I used the macro setting on my camera to get a real close up on the flower heads of the sedum. Holding the camera about two inches away from the flower head, the above photo shows the whole picture, but I miss out on all the beautiful dew drops that are there.So if I zoom into the photo closer, the clarity and pixel strength is still there and now I can see all the dew. Kind of cool.

Well it's friday, and Todd and I are off to see Neko Case, headlining the Forward Music Festival taking place across Madison this weekend. Yay!

September 18, 2008

I always like the old saying "A weed is only a flower growing in the wrong place". Here's a great example. A sunflower of some sort found a spot to grow next to the arbor vitae in the backyard. I assume the seed was dropped there from the birds as we feed sunflower seeds in the winter.I just don't have the heart to pull such a sunny and smiley flower from its "wrong" place. What a nice surprise to find.

September 14, 2008

Headed down to Chicago on Saturday for a Stereophonics concert on Saturday night. It was a record breaking rain weekend with almost 7 inches of rain hitting the city that day. We saw some pretty spectacular auto accidents on the way down. Suffice it to say we were happy to get off the interstate three hours later.

We wondered Michigan avenue Saturday afternoon in the downpour of Hurricane Ike leftovers. Desperate for a place to dry off and eat, we found a great restaurant called Banderas. The service as great, the food was excellent. Trust me, there isn't much to choose from on Michigan Ave when the rain is coming down. This restaurant was a blessing!We had wanted to get to a museum during the day. The debate was the Field, Shedd or Science and Industry. Because of the deluge, we choose the path of least resistance on this trip. The Field got our attention. We've been there before, but it's always cool to see Sue the Tryanasaurus Rex,

After checking on to priceline.com for a hotel for the night, (this time it was the wonderful world class hotel Swissotel on Wacker Ave.) that cost us not much! And bonus!, because we had a hybrid car our parking costs were cut by 50% - yay!

Anyway, the whole purpose of this trip was to see one of Raine's favorite bands, the Stereophonics who played at the sold-out Metro theatre by Wrigley Stadium. What an awesome show. We loved the music, the band was great! Raine nailed this show - dragged us down to shy-town for great weekend!

September 11, 2008

Raine made a great batch of guacamole the other night. Having our in-house cook working most nights, prevents us from benefiting from her home-made dinners. Lucky us, we had the benefit of her company the other night for a Mexican-themed supper.

The guacamole was smooth and creamy in texture. And while I didn't see Raine actually make this batch, she's been eating my version for years. Here's how I make it:

September 9, 2008

Okay, the republican-flavored emails have started arriving in my e-mailbox – some are funny, and some are just plain silly. Let’s begin with the email I received today

Who Am I?I am under 45 years old,I love the outdoors,I hunt,I am a Republican reformer,I have taken on the Republican Party establishment,I have many children,I have a spot on the national ticket as vice president with less than two years in the governor's office.

Did you guess?

Teddy Roosevelt (and by extension our own Sarah Palin)

So that got me thinking. Let’s really compare Sarah and Theodore, shall we? (P.S. I actually did some research and found these answers!)

I am under 45 years old, Yep, both were under 45 years of age as vice president

I love the outdoors

Palin just loves the sound of “Drill Baby Drill” more! Are we prepared for hand over the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to profit-making oil companies

Roosevelt was the first American president to consider the long-term needs for efficient conservation of national resources and he created some nice national parks, refuges and green space, ummm like the Grand Canyon

I hunt,

Palin: Hey, I love venison and all. but chasing wolves down by helicopter until they are exhausted and shot point blank is exciting to some, but I’ll definitely pass…- Alaska Daily News

Palin “Counting on Her Lieutenant Governor Candidate… Former Oil Lobbyist” to Help Win Oil Industry Support.

As Mayor, Palin Hired a Washington Lobbyist to Help Get Earmarks for Wasilla – Lobbyist Was Former Chief of Staff for Indicted Senator Ted Stevens. USA Today

Palin’s Oil & Gas Appointee Is Former Lobbyist for TransCanada.

In Her 2002 Campaign for Lieutenant Governor, Palin Raised ‘About 10 Percent Of Her Campaign Fund’ From Veco, An Oil Company At the Heart of Federal Investigation of indicted Alaska U.S. Senator Ted Stevens

September 6, 2008

Being in the UP in not condusive to accessing anything remotely resembling a high speed internet connection. Yep, dial up is the only choice and at a whopping 24 kbps speed - it crawls at a snail's pace. Hence, there are no pictures with this post.

Today we got all the rafters in place on the sauna haus. Well, the guys are bolting them in still while there is some light left. But soon, we'll head over to Bonnie's for supper and an hour in her sauna to soothe the aching muscles.

September 2, 2008

It is amazing what six people can accomplish when they put their minds to something. With only the lifting power of three guys and a little extra help from three others, 10 beams, 3 posts, and 6 rafters where hefted into the air and up 16 feet to be put into place.

Adding the next layers of timbers, (king posts, side beams, ridge beam and the rafters) to the "dead nuts" foundation built last weekend by Todd and my dad, the building is almost completely framed in. There was some doubt by the elders if it was even possible to life 500 lb timbers with only three guys. But determination, teamwork and engineering ingenuity got that baby built over the course of the weekend.

When I wasn't helping to lift timbers, I hauled rocks to make some more retaining walls, landscaped a "fern gully" to help with erosion control, cooked food for the hungry workers, played with the pups, and painted all the beams with preservative.